


Interview With a Cullen

by agm00548



Category: Interview With the Vampire (1994), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, M/M, cross-over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-27
Updated: 2012-04-27
Packaged: 2017-11-04 10:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/392881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agm00548/pseuds/agm00548
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of the Twilight saga, a chance encounter between Edward Cullen and Lestat de Lioncourt of the Vampire Chronicles will change everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interview With a Cullen

**Author's Note:**

> SPECIAL FANGZ TO ERICA AND MARIA

_Why do I keep doing this to myself?_ I questioned silently, as I tapped purposelessly on the keyboard of my Mac Book Pro. Coming to this old coffee shop never used to be this maddening. In fact, over the past few years it has served as one of the few bastions of sanity that the small town of Forks, Washington had for me. When you spend over eighty years with the alleged gift of over hearing the thoughts of every single person you come into contact with, you start to appreciate places like this. While I have become very effective a suppressing my talents (I have a personal propensity for self-control that has proven to be invaluable for any living soul foolish enough to get close to me), I have never been able to totally block out the thoughts of those around me. With some effort I was able to tune the incessant chattering of people’s thoughts to a low hum, but I could always tell it was there, and it threw off my focus like a pair of people whispering across a silent room.

But this coffee shop was different than most places. In a public venue like this one, my senses are usually overloaded by the same trivial and self-serving thoughts that I have come to expect from the human mind, but this crowd of people is different. It’s a strange sort of phenomenon, people come here with their laptop computers and moleskin notebooks, so they can buy their coffee, sit at a table, and proceed to think absolutely nothing.  Occasionally I would overhear someone reading something by Edgar Allen Poe, or deciding which unpronounceable type of coffee they would order, but for the most part the place was filled with a rich, and intoxicating silence.

            Silence. Having such a unique and unnatural endurance that is a trademark of my kind, I can always find silence if I need it. A quick run to an isolated forest and there wouldn’t be any thoughts but mine around for miles. Yet I’ve never actually preferred this kind of solitude. Even before my transformation I was always intrigued by people, analyzing thoughts and actions has always been an entertaining hobby of mine. That’s why I found the prospect of being around humans and silence simultaneously so appealing; it was the best of both worlds.

For some time though, I hadn’t needed a place like this to clear my head. When I met Bella, both the love of my life and the only being I had ever known who’s thoughts were shielded from me, I realized I could take this kind of peace with me wherever I wanted. But all of that changed when we finally were married, and she joined me and my family in immortality.  

 _Well isn’t this a surprise?_ Someone thought from just outside the door. The thought was strong and direct as if someone was calling to me out loud. It had a refined and confident air to it that made the vague condescension in his tone all the more striking. _I assumed from your little fit last night that these meetings were done with, or do you plan on finally holding true to your promise and having your family come “take care of me.”_ His voice sounded amused, as if he thought my anger was some kind of a joke.

I watched as he entered the coffee shop. The man, or rather, the vampire, who I had come to know as Lestat, was certainly an intriguing specimen; he had the kind of figure that left you unsure if you wanted to call him handsome or pretty. He had the trademark porcelain skin that is trademark of our kind and complimented his immaculately blonde curly hair that came just short of touching his shoulders. He wore his perfectly fitted gray suit with the kind of self-assurance that said “I own this room, I own you.”  

 _Now don’t you think you’re acting a bit childish ignoring me like this Edward? While 111 years old may be young by our standards, I do believe that you should have learned some common civility by this point._ Lestat scolded as he approached the counter without so much as glance toward me.

As he glanced at the various menu items written in chalk above the cash register I felt a sudden resistance, protecting his thoughts from my own. Unlike Bella, whose thoughts I simply could not hear, I felt a solid force, like audio feedback, barring his mind away from me.  

 _Now that is exactly the kind of inappropriate behavior that I was just talking about!_ He said, as his mental block was all immediately removed.   _Why is it always the pretty ones that lack even the most common decencies?_

 _Enough!_ I slammed my laptop shut, probably hard enough to break the screen for the eighteenth time, and stuffed it in my European satchel. Slinging the strap over my shoulder I tore out the door and into the cool night air. I hurried down the empty streets until I was confident that no one was watching me before I broke into an all-out run. As I ran I watched as my surroundings changed at a pace that would leave any humans head spinning. Within minutes I was alone in the forest clearing that I recognized as the place where I first showed Bella my true nature as a vampire. This place still had a protective feeling to it, as if nothing could touch me here.  A sat on the cold forest earth and rested my head against one of its massive trees.

“You know Edward, you shouldn’t force me to abuse brand new clothes like this.” called the pompous voice of Lestat from one of the high branches of the tree directly above me. “Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to find a well-made suit in this country? Who am I kidding? Of course you don’t!”

“Leave me alone!” I shouted, as I latched onto the trunk of the tree, pulling it, roots and all, right out of the ground. In a fit of anger I sent the tree spinning into the dense forest surrounding the clearing. I waited to hear some kind of shout, scream, or effeminate whimper from Lestat as the huge fir tree shattered in front of me. But I listened in vain and the silence I heard led me to collapse once more on the forest floor.

“Are you quite finished?” called the voice of Lestat, from the same spot directly above me.  
I looked up to see him lying suspended in midair, as if the branch had never been moved.

“What are you?” I shouted at him, anger rising in me for a reason I couldn’t totally understand. Lestat descended slowly and effortlessly, as if someone was lowering him down with invisible ropes. He landed silently on his two feet and rested his hand on my left shoulder.

“Oh, Mon Cher” he whispered consolingly, like a mother comforting a child, “you know all too well what I am” Sitting with him so close, and listening to his voice had an alarming effect on me. It gave me a simultaneous feeling of sleepiness and mortal terror, two feelings that had long since been alien to me.

“You’re not like any vampire I’ve seen before” I said, standing back up and taking a few steps away to free myself from his intoxicating presence.

“Well you know Edward; I was thinking the exact same thing about you only a few days ago. The first time I saw you there was no mistake that you possessed our particular sort of beauty, and your hunger was probably more intense than any vampire I have ever met. Yet, behind those common traits there was something human about you, and to this day it continues to pollute what could have been a most perfect beauty. Yes, what I know and what I can hear you are beginning to suspect is that only one of us is a true vampire, and I am nothing if not a vampire.”

Lestat smiled playfully at me, listening intently to my thoughts as they began spinning out of control. I tried in vain to hear his true thoughts, to find some sense of the truth in him, but I continued to receive the same resistance I felt earlier in the coffee shop. The imbalance of power was unsettling. _Is this what talking to me is like?_

“I’d imagine so!” shouted Lestat, as if he needed to remind me that he was still listening to my every thought. Where was Bella when I needed her?

“Oh will you stop thinking about that anorexic teen mom for two minutes, and focus on our…”

I was on him in an instant. Even before his body hit the ground I had hit him with blow after blow, each with enough strength behind them to kill even the strongest human. But despite this being the most ferocious beating I had ever given, all I could hear was maniacal laughter coming from Lestat. Listening to his insane laughter I was consumed with an unnatural rage. I was no longer Edward; I was an animal with only one desire: Kill. Minutes passed as his body lay motionless on the ground I forced all of my rage into him and as my strength began to falter his laughter only grew more intense.  Finally my body had no strength left to give me and I collapsed panting on top of him.

“Is that it” Lestat said disappointed, turning onto his side is I rolled my exhausted body off of him. “Please tell me you are not considered strong among your kind.”

I continued to gasp for air until I suddenly realized that my body did not require it. Feeling foolish I sat upward.

“But I guess that’s what an all animal diet will do you to you isn’t it” he continued. “You know, you remind me of an old companion. He was a lot like you; young, beautiful, immature, and he would rather survive feeding on rats than actually accept what his true nature.”

“You disgust me” I spat.

His enigmatic presence had almost made me forget that he was an unapologetic killer who fed on the blood of innocent people for his own personal benefit, the ease at which I was able to forgive his way of life while in his presence was disconcerting. “I was almost like you once, giving into animal desires with no regard for the sanctity of life.”

“You could never be like me!” shouted Lestat, he stood up, looming over my body that still lacked the strength to stand, his anger was real this time, and I realized that my life may actually be in danger. “And don’t you dare presume that you have even the slightest idea about the nature of life! I’m sick of pretty boys like you telling the world how noble it is to limit yourself. I’ve seen what life is through your eyes and it’s pathetic. You’re care free domestic home with your wife and daughter. It’s almost sad that I’m the only one who can see how little you can stand it. You’re a hunter, and hunters don’t live in their parents’ house feeding on just enough vermin to survive. Unlike you, I accept what I am, I embrace it! I’ve tasted the blood of God himself and what have you done aside from impregnate an infant and weep over the just killings of a few rapists.”

I felt sick, I knew he was wrong, so wrong, but I couldn’t muster up any tangible response. I knew I was happy, for years all I wanted was Bella, to hold her, to keep her safe from whatever threatened her. It was that love that had given me the strength to deny the very desire that threatened her the most. Of course I was happy! I had an eternity with Renesmee, my miracle daughter and Bella, my star crossed lover. Who could ask for anything more?

“But aren’t you forgetting something?” said, having clearly encroached on my thoughts yet again “You don’t need to keep her safe anymore. She is strong now, and need not fear you nor anyone else. Eventually you will have to face the fact that those people do not need you anymore. But you and I both know that you are too much of a coward to even imagine what my kind of freedom could be. But I can’t change your mind, so I assume you will spend the rest of your miserable existence in the same high school classroom as your daughter pretending to be happy in order to preserve a romance that has long since filled you with nothing but boredom. Se la vie!”

Immediately upon finishing his monologue Lestat turned to leave. With some concerted effort I managed to bring myself back to my feet and call out to him just as he sauntered out of the clearing.

“Do you know what I am!” I called out to him, a hint of desperation in my voice that even I could hear.

Stopping in his tracks, Lestat gave a resigned sigh.  
“You’re nothing, not a vampire, not a human. You, your family, even this Volturi with which you attach so much awe and esteem are of little consequence to us. Unlike us, you live with the humans in the daylight, your abilities are limited to what strengths you where as a mortal and it is that very attachment that holds you back from the true beauty that I know you can possess.” Lestat eyed me imploringly.

“What are you exactly? I cannot say for sure, but what I do know is my kind holds you of such little consequence that they allow your kind to carry on with its delusions of grandeur. Whatever disease your kind has contracted it is not vampirism, as being bitten by a vampire is not enough to make you one of us.”

Lestat paused and his expression looked suddenly strained, as if he was struggling with some internal conflict that I was still blocked from hearing. Lestat then turned around, and walking to a distant tree, removed his grey suit jacket, and then, despite the fact that it had clearly been ruined by being pounded into the dirt of the forest floor, he proceeded to place it delicately on the end of one of the trees branches. As he walked toward me once more he looked different. It was an expression that I had seen countless times before, but never directed toward me, Lestat was preparing to feed.

As he walked he unbuttoned the left sleeve of his white button down shirt revealing the transparent skin of his wrist. When he finally stood before me again he looked intensely into my eyes and I felt his mind suddenly open up to me for the first time since he arrived at the forest clearing.

 _I am going to give you the choice that I never had._ He told me. _If you want, you can be like me; you can be free, free to be whatever you want. You will no longer have the sun on your side, but you will have the kind of strength that you have never dreamt of. I see perfection in you Edward, and I know that you want far more out of life that this cages you have submitted yourself to for over eighty years._

Lestat directed my gaze back to the pulsing veins of his wrist and I felt something inside me boiling to the surface, begging me to feed, to take everything that he had, to drain him of everything that made him Lestat and take it for my own.

“The way you are, I need nothing from you. All you have to do is feed; take the gift of my blood and you will be everything that I see in you and more. But as I said, it’s your choice.”

I felt my mind racing; no matter how hard I tried I could not avert my gaze from Lestat’s alabaster wrist. Images of my family, Renesmee, of Bella raced through my mind. It wasn’t worth it I needed get out of there. Every couple gets cold feet, I knew I loved Bella and I would never risk losing her.

As soon as I resolved to leave, Lestat’s intense expression shifted to one of resigned disappointment. With a sigh he moved to recover his wrist, and all at once I was filled with an overpowering passion. All self-control was gone and before I could think or do anything my teeth had sunken into the soft skin of the vampire. I drank filling my stomach with blood sweeter and more intoxication than anything an animal could ever give me. As I continued to drink, I quickly realized I would have the strength to stop myself, or rather; I did not care enough to stop myself. As my mind began drifting toward unconsciousness for the first time since my transformation, I observed with little interest as Lestat struggled to free himself from my unbreakable hold. Then everything went to black.

 

*****

I awoke alone, unsure of my surroundings. Looking up I saw Carlisle looking down at me with very real concern.

“What happened?” I choked. My mouth too dry to speak correctly.

“Just try to relax” Carlisle said with the same calm wisdom with which he approached every problem. “We found you alone in the forest, Alice sensed that you were in danger and we found you as soon as we could.”

“Where’s Bella” I whimpered, astounded by how pathetic I sounded. As I spoke I saw my wife enter the room, her skin glistening with the marble beauty that I had given her. As she sat on the side of my bed, eyes full of devoted concern I felt something brimming inside of me for the first time in years. Eyeing her neck I felt my lips quiver, the desire engulfed me, and I prepared to feed.


End file.
